


Holly Jolly Christmas

by OllieCollie



Category: Chicago Fire
Genre: Brothers, Car Wreck, Christmas, Christmas Carols, Gen, Road Trip, Snow, Whump, injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:00:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21946975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OllieCollie/pseuds/OllieCollie
Summary: Severide desperately fought to keep control of the car, but his best efforts were no match for the force of gravity, the ice under the wheels, and the impact from the truck that sent them into a tailspin in the first place.Two best friends, a Christmastime road trip, and snow. What could go wrong?
Comments: 6
Kudos: 47





	Holly Jolly Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas, everybody!! I wanted to post this sooner, but with all the festivities going on, it didn't happen like I planned. On the plus side, y'all get the full story now instead of waiting for chapter updates!
> 
> *I have this set around season 3-ish*
> 
> Standard disclaimers apply.

_"Have a holly jolly Christmas, it's the best time of the year…"_

"Again?" Lieutenant Matt Casey moaned, dragging his pillow away from where it covered his face. "Seriously, Sev, this is the seventh time in a row. Give it a rest already."

His fellow firefighter shot him a grin from the driver's seat and cranked the volume up. "What was that? Couldn't hear you over all the Christmas cheer."

Matt grunted and reached for the knob to lower the volume. "If I cared about Christmas cheer, I wouldn't be in a car with _you_ on the way to some fancy snow resort—on the weekend before Christmas."

Kelly Severide snorted. "Come on man, what would you have been doing instead? Wallowing in your self-pity because Dawson's still giving you the silent treatment? Loosen up a bit." The squad lieutenant reached across the console to give his friend a playful shove. 

"All right, all right." Matt rolled his eyes and smirked, nudging Kelly back. He probably _was_ being a little over dramatic—okay, he totally was. Gabby had been giving him the cold shoulder lately. The problem was, he couldn't entirely figure out why. But whatever the reason, she was out of town visiting family for Christmas, and Matt supposed he could have a serious conversation with her after the hubbub of the holidays was over. For now, he might as well enjoy this mini-vacation with the guys and forget about his relationship issues.

A sudden _ding!_ from his phone alerted him to the incoming text. "Otis says the others are there and waiting on us. He also says to hurry up or they might start making snow angels.”

"If they do, they'd better get it on film," Kelly chortled. "I'd kill to see Otis and Cruz flailing around on their backs in the snow."

Matt chuckled along with his friend and shook his head. "He also wants to know why we're running so late."

"Because _some_ of us actually have lives." Kelly rolled his eyes. “And this weather isn't helping any. The snow is really starting to come down.”

The other man squinted out of the window and nodded his head in agreement.

 _"I don't know if there'll be snow…"_ the radio blared, oblivious to the white flurries falling just outside of the car.

"There will definitely be snow," Matt commented. "Or sleet, anyway. Looks like we’ll end up with a very white Christmas.” He flipped on the radio, away from Severide’s never-ending _Holly Jolly Christmas_ marathon. The next station was playing an ad for Christmas shopping, encouraging shoppers to take advantage of all the last-minute deals before they were gone.

"You'd think people weren't already spending enough money," Kelly complained, subtly switching the radio station back to Christmas songs. "It's not even about the spirit of Christmas or whatever anymore. It's just a bunch of companies trying to make money and people buying junk they don't need." He shook his head. "Talk about commercialism."

"Didn't realize you were such an expert, Kelly." Matt grinned over at his friend. "And commercialism? That's a big word. I'm proud of you."

"Ha. Ha. You're hilarious." Kelly rolled his eyes. He started to protest when Matt changed the station again, but the weather alert that blared through the speakers silenced them both. The warning of extremely icy roads and the intense snowstorm headed their direction ended with an encouragement to drivers to stay off the roads if at all possible.

“Not good,” Matt commented, continuing to peer through the snow-covered window. “Maybe we should pull over for a bit.”

“Uh-uh.” Kelly shook his head. “It's getting dark and I don't want to risk stopping now if it's only getting worse." He turned up the windshield wipers. "There’s a town coming up once we get off this road. We can hole up there if it gets bad.”

Matt nodded. “I'll let the guys know.” He tapped out a reply and hit send. A few moments passed before he huffed in irritation. 

Kelly glanced over. “What is it?”

“No service.”

The squad lieutenant frowned. “Yeah, this stretch of road has bad reception. Especially in weather like this.” He slowed the car to a crawl. “I’m beginning to wonder why I agreed to come out here.”

“I’ve wondered that from the moment I was dragged into this trip,” Matt deadpanned, causing his friend to snort.

“Because who can listen to Herrmann spin the sad story about how his whole family came down with the flu two days before their vacation and say no to taking the trip in their place?” Kelly turned back to his Christmas playlist.

Matt moaned, slamming his pillow back over his eyes. “Wake me up when we get there.” The words were barely out of his mouth before Severide let out a surprised yelp and slammed on the brakes. 

Matt gasped as he was thrown forward, the pillow cushioning what might have been a nasty head-to-dashboard blow. Tires squealed as they skidded on the icy road while Severide desperately attempted to stay in control. The car straightened out and continued on at a slower pace.

Severide let out a breath. "Sorry, man. You good?" 

"Define good," Matt muttered, re-adjusting the pillow. "What happened?"

"Deer bolted across the street. The roads are really icy."

"That's why I said we should pull over."

"Casey, I'm not pulling over in this mess. The last thing we need is some car sideswiping us or getting stuck in the snow." A particularly large patch of ice loomed in front of them, and Kelly hit the brakes again.

Matt grunted. "Who besides us is crazy enough to be on the road right—" His statement was cut short as they were both thrown forward by a powerful impact from behind.

Matt hit something hard. Pain exploded in his head. He heard Severide shout as the car spun out and skidded across the icy road.

* * *

Severide desperately fought to keep control of the car, but his best efforts were no match for the force of gravity, the ice under the wheels, and the impact from the truck that sent them into a tailspin in the first place.

He grunted when the car hit the guardrail on the right, glass shattering as the force of the collision sent them careening across the road into the opposite lane. Kelly barely had time to register that they were sliding off the road before it was too late. He gripped the steering wheel and prayed they wouldn't flip over as the banged up car thudded down an incline.

The wild ride came to an abrupt stop, throwing Kelly against the wheel with its one final lurch and knocking the wind right out of him. His vision went black for a few seconds.

He gasped at the white-hot pain that coursed through him and urged himself not to be sick. There were five hundred alarm bells going off in his mind, all demanding immediate attention, but he couldn't seem to focus on any one of them. _What just happened?_

Amidst the confusion and shock, one thought jumped out to the front: _Casey._

"Casey?" Kelly gasped out, blinking in an effort to clear his vision. A sudden dizziness almost overtook him, and he had to coach himself through deep breaths in order to even consider opening his eyes again.

"Case...Casey!" he called again, squinting at the still passenger to his right. His heart caught in his throat at the sight of blood on his friend's face. Fragmented memories from last year immediately surfaced in his mind—Matt stumbling out of a burning apartment with blood dripping down the side of his head...seizing in the ambulance as Kelly held him down...the diagnosis of an epidural hematoma and emergency surgery. The warnings he'd been given regarding consequences of further head trauma.

"Casey!" _No no no._ Kelly struggled to remove his seatbelt, ignoring his protesting head and ribs. "Hey, can you hear me?"

The truck lieutenant gasped. His eyes flew open and he began coughing. 

"Matt! Look at me," Kelly demanded, watching the other man's eyes try to adjust to the dim light. Finally, his gaze met Kelly's, and he moaned, chest still heaving. "...Sev?"

"Yeah, man. Don't move yet," Kelly warned, leaning across the console to get a closer look at his friend.

Matt blinked owlishly. "Wh' hap...happened?"

"Some idiot rear-ended us," Kelly growled. A sudden pain shot through his leg, and he bit back a grunt. His eyes suddenly caught on a gleaming sheen of crimson on his buddy's chest. "Woah, Casey." There was a lot of blood. "Dang it…" He didn't have time to wonder how it happened. Matt was bleeding badly. 

Kelly yanked on his door handle, relieved when it came open with only a small amount of force. Icy wind blew through the squad lieutenant's layers, chilling him in seconds. The snow had almost turned completely into sleet and pelted him mercilessly as he stepped out into the storm. His first step was met with an unexpected pain, and he felt his knee buckle. Hissing at the sudden throbbing, Kelly fought to his feet and make his way through the past-ankle-deep snow around to the passenger side of the car. 

He was luckily able to pry Matt's door open with only a little more effort. The truck lieutenant practically fell out of the car as it opened. 

"Case—hey, hey man, look at me." Kelly sat the injured man against the car, hands shaking with adrenaline as he frantically searched for the source of the blood.

"Stay with me, Matt," he muttered, yanking away Casey's jacket and ripping open the torn t-shirt underneath. The car hardly cast enough light to see the jagged wound that glared up at him. Kelly could only guess the injury had occurred when the side of the car had slammed into the guardrail. He vaguely remembered the sound of glass shattering. 

_Put pressure on the wound; stop the bleeding._ The squad lieutenant knew he had to think fast. His first aid kit was somewhere in the trunk, but there wasn't time to search for it. His eyes caught on Matt's pillow, and he quickly yanked the pillowcase off and folded it inside out before pressing it to the man's chest.

"Hey, you still with me?" Kelly asked, shooting a glance at the injured man. There wasn't much of a response. "You've gotta stay awake, Matt!" 

"Tryin'..." The other man squinted. "You...you okay?"

Kelly rolled his eyes. "A little busted up, but not as bad as you. Keep still, okay? How's the head?" It was so dark that Kelly could barely see as it was, and the pelting snow wasn't helping. 

"H—hurts," Matt grunted, squeezing his eyes shut. 

"I don't see why. You've got such a hard head," Kelly quipped, scanning the other man's face. 

Thankfully, upon further examination the gash seemed minimal. He let out a breath of relief.

Matt's chuckle faded into a coughing fit, and he struggled for a breath.

"Hey, calm down, bud. Deep breaths," Kelly encouraged, leveraging all of his weight onto the still-bleeding shoulder wound.

The injured man grunted as he tried to follow his friend's orders. "Is...th—the other driver...they okay?"

"I don't know." Kelly twisted, trying to peer over his shoulder up the road. "Too hard to see." He inwardly knew that if the driver was uninjured, they'd probably have been at the bottom of the incline seeing if they could help.

"Go," Matt huffed out. He winced. "M'fine."

Kelly definitely did not agree with his friend's assessment, but his firefighter instincts were shouting, commanding him to check on the other victims. He hesitated for only a moment. "I'll be _right_ back." He moved Matt's left hand to replace where his hand had been holding the makeshift bandage. "Don't move; keep pressure on that." 

"Yeah...got it. Bossy." 

Kelly snorted, but inwardly he was thankful to see the old Matt already returning. He gently squeezed the injured man's good shoulder. "Stay awake." He was on his feet before the other man could respond, despite the pain in his knee that resurfaced once he was standing.

Taking a quick survey of his car, the squad lieutenant winced at the sight. The passenger side was bad—a result of slamming into the guardrail—and he couldn't get a good look at the front, but everything else seemed intact. 

But the car could wait. It was the least of their worries at the moment. Kelly dug through the glove compartment for a flashlight, relieved when it turned on with no issues. His eyes scanned their surroundings as he moved away from the car. The incline they'd slidden into wasn't too steep to climb; on a normal day Kelly would've scaled it with ease. However, today was _definitely_ not a normal day on a squad rescue, and his knee was killing him. He struggled up the incline, flashlight in hand. He only slipped twice.

Silence greeted him as he stepped into the road, shining his light back and forth. No headlights either way for as far as he could see. 

"Great," Kelly muttered. He limped across the street before turning the light back toward his car, looking for a sign of the truck that had hit them. 

Nothing. 

"You've _got_ to be kidding me." Had they really not stopped? 

Kelly made another thorough search of the area, but there were no lights, no movement, no sign of anyone other than them. The street was empty. He couldn't believe it. 

"Idiots," he growled, pulling his phone from his pocket, even as his hope began to dissipate and the tiniest bit of fear began to rise. No reception. Just like he'd told Casey earlier.

_Great, just great._

He stood in the middle of the dark, lonely road, mind racing a mile a minute. They were stuck out here, injured, with no way to contact anyone. The chances of another car passing were too slim to even ignite the smallest bit of hope in Kelly.

And around him, the snow began to fall harder.

* * *

Severide had been gone for a while. Had to have been at least half an hour. Or maybe it was only five minutes. Matt struggled to focus. He vaguely remembered joking around with Severide as they'd finished loading up the car, razzing the squad lieutenant for taking so long to finish up an incident report. Then they had to stop by the Herrmanns' house to check in and drop off a few things. Adding in a pit stop for gas and the ever-worsening weather, it had put them pretty far behind schedule.

Matt moaned. _What happened?_ Kelly had told him...he just couldn't really remember now. It had been a while. The car was running, but the dim light didn't do much compared to the pitch black around him. 

A shiver ran through the injured fireman. It was _cold_. He blinked his eyes open and realized why. White flakes—mixed with icy droplets of sleet—fell from above, settling on his face and body. He could feel the frozen ground underneath him.

It hurt to move, but every fireman instinct within was telling him to get up and make sure Kelly and everyone else involved was okay. He shifted and gasped when his world suddenly spun. His hand dropped from where it held the pillowcase—bandage?—in place. 

"Casey!" Kelly suddenly reappeared, his brow furrowing the way it always did when he was worried. He immediately began searching for...something.

"Sev...what's wrong?" Matt frowned.

The other man glanced at him. "What?"

"You're doing the...the thing."

"What thing? Casey, what's wrong is that you're bleeding and you can't stay put like I told you." Kelly grabbed the blood-soaked pillowcase Matt had dropped and pressed it against the injured man's right shoulder again. He huffed. "No sign of the other driver. They must've kept going." 

Other driver? They'd been hit? It made sense, but Matt's thoughts were becoming too jumbled to sort out much. "D'you call for help?" 

"Tried. No service. And we've still got a good eight miles—at least—before this road ends." Kelly pinched the bridge of his nose with his free hand.

Matt knew it was dangerous to go to sleep, but the pounding in his head was worse now and he couldn't seem to focus. Ten miles was a long way to walk, especially at night—and in the snow, no less. But he would do whatever needed to be done. "Gotta...go for help." 

Kelly was already shaking his head. "You're not in any shape to make that trek, and I'm not leaving while you're bleeding out."

There was more to it. Matt had seen the squad lieutenant limp his way around the car earlier. Kelly was worse off than he was letting on—as usual.

"Nice t' know you care," Matt muttered with a small smirk, despite the fact that his head felt like it was pulsing. 

"You kidding? Dawson's gonna kill me for getting into this mess in the first place. No way I'm leaving you here to freeze while I get lost in a blizzard." 

Matt snorted and then winced. "So then...what's the plan?"

Severide hesitated. "I'm gonna cover up that broken window and find something to use as a reflector in case any more cars pass."

"Then?"

"Then I'm gonna go see if I can get cell reception anywhere." 

Matt tried to nod. He was vaguely aware of another makeshift bandage being secured to his head with who-knows-what. He faded in and out as Kelly found a towel and put it up over the shattered window. He wanted to help, but his head and shoulder protested vehemently, so he settled for trying to stay awake and hoped it wouldn’t be long before help arrived. 

* * *

Kelly was torn. On one hand, the freezing air was helping slow the blood flowing from Matt's injury. On the other hand, Matt was going into shock and they both were going to develop hypothermia if they didn't get out of the cold air soon. They'd already been out too long as it was. 

Now that the adrenaline had worn off, the pain was kicking up a notch. He tried to ignore it, focusing on whatever tendrils of a plan he could come up with. 

Getting Matt settled was his first order of business. Even though the chest wound wasn't dangerously deep—as far as he could tell—and the bleeding seemed to have stalled for now, he needed proper medical treatment. And there was no telling if the head injury did any unseen internal damage.

Kelly grumbled, willing his stupid knee to stop throbbing so he could put his full weight on it and move faster. He fumbled around in the trunk, searching through their bags for anything that might be useful. His first aid kit was a welcome sight, however small and simple it may have been. He hurried back over to his friend, flashlight shoved in between his teeth, and ripped open the kit. Sometimes being part of an emergency services team came in handy. Kelly cleaned and dressed his buddy's injuries as best as he could with what he had. Matt was still responsive, but that didn't ease Kelly's worries by much. 

"All right, let's get you in the car," Kelly announced, cautiously helping Casey straighten up. "How you feelin'?" 

Matt sucked in a breath. "Like I got...hit by a truck," he managed. 

The squad lieutenant snorted. “Hilarious. Come on.” They pulled to their feet, leaning against each other in order to keep themselves upright. Once Matt was in the backseat resting against the door, Kelly turned his attention to getting set up for what was already shaping up to be a long night. He managed to come up with a bright orange shirt to hang up by the street, which wasn’t ideal, but better than nothing. He tried to cover up the broken passenger window better in order to keep as much heat inside the car as possible, and finally pulled out their sleeping bags and an extra blanket he’d found in the trunk.

“Here.” He tossed the items in to his friend. “I’m going see if I can get service anywhere near here. Or if we’re lucky enough, a car will pass.” 

Matt nodded his comprehension of the words, but his eyelids were drooping and Kelly knew it wouldn’t be long before the injured man was out. “Hey, try to stay awake until I get back.”

“Yeah…” Matt squinted at his friend. “Be—be careful out there.”

Several sarcasm-laced retorts came to Kelly's lips, but he held them back. The fact that Matt wasn’t insisting on coming along or making goofy comments bothered him more than he cared to admit. Although he _was_ thankful he didn’t have to stop to have an argument. He was freezing, and the snow was still coming down. "Be right back."

Ten minutes and multiple faceplants later, Kelly was about as frozen as an icicle and no closer to getting help. Stupid back roads. 

He growled in frustration as he stumbled back to the car. They probably had enough gas to keep the car running through the night, but what they would do when morning came was anybody's idea. Kelly could only hope someone happened by and discovered them. Sooner or later, the guys were bound to miss them, but by that time, it might be too late. 

He sucked in a pain-filled breath. As a firefighter, he'd learned to deal with pain to a large extent. However, it was still never a fun experience. 

Kelly popped the car door open and slid into the backseat with his friend. "It's like a blizzard out there."

Matt blinked open his eyes, looking somewhat dazed but still coherent. "Yeah...tried the radio. S'fuzzy, but sounds like the storm's not letting up."

Kelly sighed and turned up the heat. "It's gonna be a long night."

* * *

“They should’ve been here by now.” The concern in Joe Cruz’s voice was evident as he paced across the hotel room, stopping to check his phone for any new messages. Nothing. He sent Casey another text.

“Maybe they stopped because of the weather,” Otis suggested from his sprawled-out position on the bed. His eyes were closed, one arm flung carelessly across his face.

Cruz huffed. “They would’ve at least let us know,” he reasoned. “It’s been three hours since anybody heard from them.”

“I don’t think it’s any reason to get all panicked.”

Sitting on the bed across from Otis, Peter Mills nodded in agreement. “They’re smart guys, they can take care of themselves.”

“Well, yeah, but what if something happened? They were getting on that back road last we heard. Maybe they got stranded out there.” Cruz was more worried than he wanted to admit. Sure, their lieutenants were more than capable, but what if they were hurt or the car was stuck? There was no reasonable explanation for them not to call or text anybody, especially when the weather was so bad. Even if the snow had slowed their trip, they would still have made it to the hotel by now. If they had stopped somewhere in between—which was unlikely, knowing Severide—they would have let them know.

"I just would feel better if—" Cruz stopped mid-sentence, watching as Otis and Mills began pulling on their coats. "What are you guys doing?" 

Otis rolled his eyes. "What does it _look_ like we're doing?"

Cruz frowned. "But you said—"

"I know what I said," Otis interjected. "I also know that _you_ are not gonna stop freaking out until we either hear from Casey and Severide or find them, and I really don't want to listen to you pace and mumble any more. So we're going."

Mills chuckled as he tugged his beanie over his ears. "If I'm being honest, I'm a little worried, too, man."

"Then come on." Otis opened the door. "Let's go brave the storm. But I swear, if they're holed up a motel somewhere drinking hot chocolate and watching TV—"

"We get it; we get it." Cruz grabbed his keys and followed his friends. "Let's get going."

* * *

"Hey, you remember that time Otis put shaving cream in Cruz's boots?"

Matt snorted, trying his hardest to ignore the throbbing in his head and the stabbing pain in his shoulder. "He’s lucky Cruz didn't use it to shave off his moustache. He was pretty mad."

It had been maybe two hours since they’d settled in the car. Kelly had gone out once already to make sure their help signal hadn't fallen and to try for reception. No luck. Now, the two were huddled up in the few blankets Kelly had managed to dig out of the trunk, and he was doing his best to keep Matt from drifting off—annoying him to death was more like it.

"How long you think we can last out here?" Matt asked, cracking an eye open. Even as groggy as everything was at the moment, he still understood the severity of their situation. 

Kelly huffed, and Matt knew he didn't want to answer. 

"With the window busted, the cold's getting in quicker," he admitted. "I don't know, Casey. Let's just hope a car comes by sooner rather than later."

Matt managed a mumbled "mhm" just before a wave of dizziness washed over him, spinning his world upside-down. He gasped. 

"Hey." His buddy's voice wasn't actually that loud, but to Matt it might as well have been a shout. "Is it your head?"

"I'm—I'm good." He winced at the pain. His nice, warm bed sounded great right about now. "Really just wanna go to sleep…"

Kelly shook his head. "Sorry, bud, I'm not taking any chances with that head of yours. After last year—"

"I know, I know." Matt waved him off, letting his eyes drift shut nonetheless. He heard the other man sigh.

"Seriously, Casey, if you don't open your eyes, I'm gonna start singing Christmas songs—"

"I'm awake, I'm awake," Matt responded, snapping his eyes open. _That_ was the last thing he needed. The squad lieutenant's singing was, well...it was sufficient to say there was a reason he never participated in karaoke night at Molly's.

Kelly smirked. "Thought that might work."

"You know...you can be a—a real jerk sometimes."

"True, but at least you won't die." 

Matt huffed in annoyance. "At this point, I'm wondering if it would've been better if I had. Stuck in this tiny backseat with you?" He swallowed as another wave of pain washed over him. "A fate worse'n death."

He knew if he hadn't been injured, Kelly would've smacked him. Hard. As it was, he received a gentle leg nudge and a glare from the other man. 

A sudden gust of wind found its way through the covered broken window, and Matt found himself shivering violently. He clamped his teeth together to keep them from chattering. Man, did he hate the cold. 

He tried to convince himself that they would be fine; help would arrive soon. But one glance at the swirling snow out of the window and he knew the chances of another car passing by—or anyone seeing them even if they did—were slim to none. All he could do was try his best to stay awake and hope and pray they made it through the night.

* * *

Kelly could tell his injured friend was freezing. If he was being honest, he was, too. Winter snowstorms were no joke, especially when stranded in the middle of nowhere without adequate supplies. 

He tried to hope for the best, but with every passing minute, he found himself wondering how they were going to make it out of this situation. The car heater could probably last a good while, but once morning rolled around—assuming the snow had let up by then—Kelly would have to make the trek back for help and hope someone passed along the way sooner. Then there was Casey. His head and shoulder injuries complicated things even more. The bleeding on his chest had slowed, but he'd lost a lot of blood and he needed real medical help. Kelly didn't know if they had all night. He watched Matt curl up tighter with one of the blankets they'd spread out in the back. His shivering didn't slow much.

So Kelly reached out and tugged his friend over to his side of the seat. 

"What're you doin'?" Matt mumbled, his semi-limp form allowing the other man maneuver him easily.

"Body heat will help keep us both warmer." He knew Casey knew that, but he would blame the confusion on the fact that his friend was only half conscious. He piled the blankets on top of them, tucking the edges around their sides to trap as much heat as possible, and wrapped his arms around Matt. 

"Hope you don't...don't plan on tellin' anybody about this," Casey muttered, eyes starting to drift close again. "Dangerously close to...cuddling."

Kelly wrinkled his nose. "As if. I think the fact that we were in danger of freezing to death will be enough to convince everyone to let us off the hook."

Matt snorted. "Sure." 

"Casey, you'd better not fall asleep," Kelly warned, sensing the injured man beginning to relax. "I did not sign up to be your pillow."

"M'not." The one-word responses were worrying Kelly. He needed a distraction.

"Hey—tell me about that call with the crazy cat lady."

"You've heard that one."

"It won't hurt to hear it again. Besides, it's funny."

As Matt relented and launched into the story about rescuing old Mrs. Hopkins and her twenty-four cats from a burning home, Kelly bit his lip and hoped that maybe, just maybe, the guys had missed them by now and were on the way with help.

* * *

"See anything?" Cruz squinted through the windshield, desperately trying to watch the road through the snow. Their car crawled along, brights on. 

"Not since you asked five seconds ago," Otis muttered from the passenger seat. They'd already stopped at the only exit between their hotel and the back road, and there had been no sign that their lieutenants had stopped there. Honestly, Otis wished he was back at the fancy hotel, relaxing on the soft mattress and joking around with his friends. But if Cruz had a "feeling," he was usually right. And they really should have heard from Casey and Severide by now. So yeah, he was was worried. He couldn't deny that the tiredness from their earlier drive had him a _little_ irritable, though.

"It's hard to see," Mills commented. "If they're off on the side, we might miss them." 

A faint flash to the right caught Otis's eye. "Hey, hold up a second." 

Cruz gently tapped the brakes, bringing the car from its five mile an hour crawl to a complete stop and looking in the same direction. "What is it?"

"Not sure." For a moment, Otis thought he might just be imagining things. Then, he spotted it again, just barely. A small dot of color amidst the white surroundings.

The others noticed it, too. "There." Mills pointed. "Let's check it out."

Otis nodded, already reaching for the door handle. "Wait here, Joe. We'll see if it's anything." He climbed out of the car and hurried toward what appeared to be a piece of clothing hanging from a tree. Otis stopped to take a closer look.

"Otis, over here!" Peter waved the other man over to where he stood looking down at the steep incline just beyond the tree.

"Oh no," Otis breathed, his gaze following Mills' pointing finger. Even through the falling snow, he could make out the car that sat at the bottom of the incline. It was Severide's.

* * *

His shoulder throbbed. He knew he wasn't in danger of bleeding out—hopefully—but blood loss was never fun, and his head had not enjoyed being whacked against a window so abruptly and was letting him know it. 

Not only that, but it was definitely getting colder. The blankets, along with Severide's body heat, generated some warmth, but it didn't entirely negate the icy air seeping through the window and the fact that they were stranded in a car in a near-blizzard.

Next to him, Kelly shifted, and Matt yelped at the sudden stabbing pain that swept through his shoulder.

"Sorry, man," Kelly apologized.

Matt winced. "S'fine." He wasn't fine, not really, but it wasn't Severide's fault. His eyes burned and he really just wanted to _go to sleep._ However, he was not interested in putting up with Kelly's annoying questions and—God forbid, _singing_ —so he did his best to stay coherent. It was difficult, though, with his pounding head urging him to take a trip to dreamland. The darkness was sometimes better; there was no pain there. It could also be dangerous. But…

"Casey." He heard the warning undertone in Kelly's drawn out mutter of his name.

"I know…" He was definitely trying. How he planned to keep it up the whole night was beyond him. Something in the back of his mind told him their chances out here were slim, but he was too groggy at this point to grasp onto any concrete thought. "S'cold."

"Crazy, right?" came the response. "Not like it's snowing or anything."

Matt managed an eye roll, feeling Kelly's chest vibrate behind him as he chuckled.

"Definitely not the Christmas adventure I was expecting," Kelly muttered. "I swear, trouble follows you everywhere."

Wait a second, he was really trying to pin this on _Matt_? "Wasn't...my fault. Told y' we should—should've taken m'truck."

Kelly's response was cut off by a thump from outside. "Did you hear something?"

"All I hear is wind." Matt coughed and regretted it when the jarring movement sent waves of stabbing pain through his head _and_ shoulder. 

"No...there's somebody out there." Kelly shifted carefully, and Matt craned his neck enough to see out the window.

A faint shout echoed from somewhere outside. The back door was flung open so suddenly that both men nearly toppled out. Worried voices filled Matt's ears.

"Casey!"

"Severide!"

"What happened?" Was that...Otis? Weren't they supposed to be at the hotel? What were they doing here?

Severide must have answered somebody's question, because the next voice Matt heard was Mills'. "The shirt you put up there is the reason we stopped. Real lucky we saw it."

Relief swept over Matt. They would be okay after all. Maybe it was that knowledge that had his eyes closing—against his better judgment—as the world around him began to fade. He was vaguely aware of hands on him, lifting him and moving him—to another car?—as the voices began to blend together. Somebody called his name, but he was too exhausted to even consider responding. The darkness beckoned him once more, and this time, he gave in.

* * *

_Epilogue_

"Hey, Lieutenant! Next time you wanna get stabbed and end up in a ditch during a snowstorm, do it on the way home instead of ruining our vacation." The greeting came from Otis, who sat on the couch with a mug of coffee. 

"Yeah, last time I offer you my family vacation," Herrmann interjected, moving to clap Casey on the back as the lieutenant entered the room. 

"All right, all right, lay off." Matt rolled his eyes. "We established that what happened wasn't my fault. Or Severide's, but if you want to blame him, be my guest." He ignored the playful glare he received from Kelly.

Mills joined in the conversation. "So, the shoulder's all healed up?" he questioned.

Matt nodded, rotating his right arm in an exaggerated circle. "Good as new. Doc says I'm lucky it healed so fast."

Mouch tore his eyes away from the TV long enough to ask, "And what about that noggin of yours?"

"Don't worry, Casey's head is too hard for anything to do much damage to it," Kelly called, propping his feet up on the table. 

Matt didn't give him the satisfaction of a response; he crossed the room to pour himself a cup of coffee.

"In all seriousness, we're glad to have you back, Lieutenant," Herrmann said. He shook his head. "You boys sure know how to liven up a simple road trip."

"Well, believe me, it wasn't our intention." Matt dumped out the old coffee grounds, ignoring the others as they began to tease about finding Casey and Severide huddled up together—because that had definitely _never_ happened. 

He sighed. Sure, the guys were annoying, but he had to give them some credit—Cruz, Otis, and Mills _had_ come to their rescue that night. They'd survived to tell the tale of the accident, and to top it all off, Kelly hadn't sung _Holly Jolly Christmas_ once since. 

And that's why this was going down as a win in Casey's book. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed!! Drop a comment and share your thoughts! Hope you all have a very merry Christmas!


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